J.O.B. Has a Soft Side
It’s called the Red Bull Foam Wreckers, and it’s descending upon American beaches everywhere from May through October.
Jamie O Brien. Photo: Pedro Gomes
Matt Pruett
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Few people have so deftly navigated every surfing zeitgeist of the 21st century from surf contests and magazines and DVD’s to surf stunts and social media and YouTube as Jamie O’Brien has. We mustn’t forget that it was almost 20 years ago when J.O.B. made his first surf movie and won his first contest at Pipeline, a wave he would dominate for years to come (and still kinda does). And today, in 2021, J.O.B. is beyond relevant. He’s a straight-up celebrity.
The Dangers of Surfing Big Waves and Brain Injuries
How often are surfers getting concussed.or worse?
Tom Dosland. Photo: Fred Pompermayer
Dashel Pierson
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At a remote surf spot in northern California, Shawn Dollar was in trouble. It was 2015 and Dollar was surfing alone. When a large set steamrolled his way, he stood on his board for a few feet of extra leverage, and dove beneath the whitewash. But, as he broke the surface, he went head-first into a shallow rock.
His neck was broken; his brain, scrambled.
“The real problem was, which I found out later, that all the concussions I had before added up, and this one was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Dollar, a two-time world record holder for biggest wave ever surfed (one at Maverick’s, another at Cortes Bank). “When I went up to the Amen Clinic, the results from the scans looked like I had played high school, college, and pro football. I had the brain of a pro football playe
Wave of the Day, Jafet Ramos, Puerto Escondido, 04/23
Local charger finds big needle in bigger haystack
Marcus Sanders
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Vid: Jaciel Santiago/Billy Watts
As mentioned earlier, today was big and tough and mainly closing out at Puerto. (We know this mostly because we went Live for a couple hours from the sand.) Not many waves were even paddled for, let alone made. Later in the morning, around 9:20am, local charger Jafet Ramos saw his opportunity and didn’t hesitate for a second. Because days like this at Puerto, sometimes you only get one. Turns out, this was arguably the best wave ridden today. Check back tomorrow.
Highlights: La Bomba, Part 1: South of the Border
Showcasing series of solid south swells from Peru to Mexico
Tyler Warren, Puerto. Photo: Billy Watts
Marcus Sanders
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Last week, when we saw swaths of purple marching across the South Pacific, we got pretty excited, as we tend to do when we see that kind of stuff, and decided to call it the La Bomba swell. Turns out, maybe we should’ve gone a little more plural on the whole thing. Las Bombas, maybe. Especially for Central America and Mexico, which have basically been pumping nonstop for almost a week now. Some places have been better than others, of course, but there’s been no shortage of energy in the water South of the Border, as evidenced by the gallery below.